Christmas Shopping
by Mousefurs
Summary: "What do you mean she's gone? I thought she was going Christmas shopping. ...Dad? What's the matter?" My name is Lucas. I'm sixteen years old and today is my first day of a brand new high school. I hate it here. Ness/Lucas through Lucas' PoV. Will have little Claus/Ninten moments.
1. Chapter 1

_What do you mean she's gone? I thought she was going Christmas shopping. ...Dad? What's the matter? _

"Lucas!"

I jerk my head up from the desk and blink rapidly to adjust my eyes to the light. What dimension was I in?

"Did you hear me?"

"Uhh..."

The teacher pushes her glasses up with narrowed eyes. Letting out a small tch, she slams her meter stick to the whiteboard.

"Answer this problem," her eyes scream a challenge that makes me inwardly flinch.

_Shit._ I scan over the board. Some kind of math problem. "Um...I think it's-"

"That's what I thought. Next time, pay attention." She automatically shifts gears and begins speaking again.

"Oh, and speaking of which, while you're at it right now mister Minch," the teacher hissed, pointing her meter stick at the chubby boy in the back as he jammed his supplies in his bag for the soon-to-ring lunchtime bell. "There will be no packing up until the bell rings. So please take out all of your supplies as we have a good solid-"

The bell rings. The chubby kid gets to his feet and sorta-hustles sorta-waddles out of the classroom; the rest of the class quickly accompanying him. I sigh and raise to my feet as soon as they're gone to calmly walk out into the hallway.

My name is Lucas. I'm sixteen years old and today is my first day of a brand new high school. I hate it here.

Keeping my bag close to my chest, I swerve in between the groups of chattering students, trying to remember the way to the lunchroom. Oh god, I hope I don't get lost.

I'm busy glancing at the numbers on the nearby classrooms, hoping to pass my next class when I slam face-first into someone's backpack. "Oof!" I grunt, stepping back and rubbing my nose. I look up and see the sweaty face of the chubby kid from before. His blonde, untrimmed bangs stick to the oils on his forehead, and his plump cheeks puff out even farther as he huffs in anger.

"Watch where you're going! You almost squished my lunch." He raises an eyebrow as he recognizes my face. "Oh, you're the new kid. Lucas, right? Well, Lucas...let me give you a piece of advice. You don't mess with me, or my twin brother. Ya'know. Looks like me, except not as good looking. If you do, my boys will give you the beating of your lifetime. Got it?" He gives me a shove for good measure and laughs hysterically as he scuttles off.

I blink. Was he serious?

"Jeez, what a jerk," A voice from behind me makes me jump. I whip around to see a kid in a ridiculously 90's-looking outfit smiling at me. "Don't mind him. He just has a warped sense of humor. You alright?"

"Fine," I grunt out as I turn and scurry away as quickly as I can. My face feels hot and my heart's beating really fast when I finally come across the lunchroom. My stomach was too disturbed to eat; so I went to go sit next to the wall where nobody was around to sit and calm myself down.

I hate this place. I want to go home.

And who was that guy anyway? He definitely didn't look like the type of guy to talk to someone like me. He had a positive vibe to him, but I couldn't help but think it was all fake; a lie, a way of gaining my trust.

Whatever. Not like I'll ever talk to him again.

With one last deep breath, I finally calm down enough to set my bags down and actually take in my surroundings. As usual, the lunchroom is full of loud chatter and is separated among friend groups. They all look like they fit in with one another, except for the mix that was the people-with-no friends-tables. I was always one to sit at those tables. Other than the odd, big nose creature that was the school's mascot being plastered everywhere, it was just like my old school. I sigh.

I set my bag down and dig through it to grab my GameBoy Advance. It's aged a lot; the screen is covered in scratches and the speakers suck, but it's the only video game related thing I've ever owned. I startup my Harvest Moon game and my mind is finally at ease in front of the familiar screen. The music, while terrible quality, was my favorite. It was always relaxing or exciting. I'm lost in the universe that is Harvest Moon for the rest of the period.

I wish Claus had this lunch with me.

The lunch bell rings too quickly for my liking as I begrudgingly put my GameBoy away. Time for my next class. I wait for the lunchroom to clean out a bit before starting the journey for my next classroom. Hopefully no chubby or 90's kids would interrupt me this time.


	2. Chapter 2

Classes passed, slowly but surely. I was sick of the day by the time it had hit sixth period- P.E.

I begrudgingly make my way down the hallway, sighing to myself as I open the locker room door. I am greeted by loud chatter, as well as the classic smell of sweat and cologne. I push myself up against the wall to let others through as I open up my schedule, looking for what number my P.E. locker was. Number 206. I head toward the section with the 200's and grind my teeth together when I find my locker.

The 90's kid was two lockers away from mine.

I lower my head, avoiding eye contact as I swerve through the chattering guys to get over to my locker. Glancing at my schedule again, I enter the combination as quick as I can.

I feel eyes hitting the back of my head. I open my locker and shove my bag in it, but I realize it's too late as I hear footsteps approaching me.

"Hey, you're from earlier right?"

I nod, eyebrows furrowing as I unzip my bag to put my schedule back in it.

"Are you new this year? This school is pretty small, and I usually recognize every face around here."

"Mhmm," I grumble.

"Ah, no wonder Porky felt the need to be extra dickish to you." He paused, maybe looking for a reply that I wasn't in the mood to give. He started back up, "Well hi then, name's Ness. I know our first encounter was kind of awkward," I shut my locker and turn around to look at him. He's got a round face, and dimples that make him look a little childish. His childish demeanor is assisted by the fact that his shoe is untied. "...but I hope we can get along." His smile becomes more forced as he realizes he's being evaluated.

"Your shoe's untied," I murmur, glancing at his shoe.

"...Oh!" He looks down and rubs the back of his head sheepishly. "Good eye." He bends down as I walk away. I might of heard him sigh in defeat, but I'm too busy wondering why he was so insistent on talking to me.

….

The first day of P.E. went as you would expect, we met our coaches, they're too fat to be P.E teachers, the norm.

But something about this P.E. was different than my old school.

"Here at Saturn High we believe in teamwork," The teacher claps her hands together. "So as a result, you will be partnered with someone in the class for the entire year. " She beckons the second teacher over and he hands her a clipboard. "You will perform various activities together and _must _get along. Whatever drama you have going on outside of this class will be forgotten while class is going on. Understand?" The class murmurs an agreement as she scans the clipboard. "Great! Now when I call your name, raise your hand so your partner knows who you are."

A long list of partners later, she finally gets to me.

"Ana is partnered with Paula, and...Ness," He promptly lifts his hand. "you will be partners with…" It better not be what I think it is. "...Lucas."

Goddammit. I raise my hand reluctantly. He looks at me in surprise, and then lowers his hand. Hm, no cheery smile this time? Must have offended him. Great. I made an enemy on the first day.

"Now then," the teacher hands her clipboard away. "I want you to all go get changed so we can do some stretching. Go on now!"

We all get to our feet and separate into the locker rooms. I avoid eye contact with the Ness kid at all cost as I open my locker. I hated changing in the locker room;I was scrawny and small, why did I have to take my shirt off in front of all these guys?

"Hey," I hear the accent-thick voice again. "Was that a gameboy I saw in your bag?"

I glance over to him in surprise, but immediately look away again when I'm greeted with a shirtless 90's kid. Damn, he was a lot more muscular than he first looked. My face feels hot as I nod.

"Aw man, I used to play gameboy all the time! What games do you have?"

"Harvest Moon," I say, nervously unbuttoning my shorts.

"Hmm. Don't think I've ever played that one."

I glance over at him again, and am greeted to boxers with the school's mascot plastered all over them. Seriously? The people at this school were so into the school spirit it was almost creepy.

"Yeah, doesn't seem like a game that would interest you."

"Mmm, I doubt that. I like a lot of game genres."

I pull on my basketball shorts and shut my locker. "Well then maybe you'd like it. Who knows."

His locker closes and he follows me out to the gym.

…

Turns out this Ness guy was pretty athletic. I could hardly keep up with him during the jog, and he mentions something about being on the baseball team while we're stretching. Luckily I'm much more flexible than him, so at least I outrank him in _something._ We end up conversing about video games and my old school a little, and I can't help smiling shyly whenever he grinned like he did. The guy certainly let off a friendly vibe.

Class is over pretty quick, and I wave goodbye at Ness as we part ways in the hallway. I make my way to my locker and grunt a hello to my twin brother as I see him digging through his already mess of a locker.

"How'd your first day go?" I ask him, grabbing my text books for homework.

"Fine, met some new guys. One of them is really fuckin' hilarious," Claus shoves a piece of gum in his mouth as he swings his backpack over his shoulder. "His name's Ninten or something like that. You know, like the video game brand. His parents must have been huge nerds. He wears the weirdest outfit ever. A bandana and a red baseball hat, seriously? Who even wears baseball hats these days?"

"You sure are talking about him a lot," I snort. He shoves me in response. "That's funny though, I met a guy that sounds just like him. No bandanna though, and his name was Ness."

"How weird. Japanese?"

"Yep."

"Maybe they're twins, too."

I giggle, and Claus and I continue conversing about our day as we walk toward the bus stop.


	3. Chapter 3

It's the Friday of the first week of school when an assembly happens instead of first period. Why they didn't make it on the first day, I didn't know, but nothing about this school made sense so I just accepted it the way it was. I'm sitting in the bleachers next to Claus, evaluating all the students sitting below me. Everyone seemed to belong here- even Claus; whom was currently waving someone over to sit next to them. It's then I realize that it's the Ninten guy he had mentioned a few days before; his red bandanna and baseball cap make this evident.

"Hey," Claus says confidently, and I can't help but envy the way it was so easy for my brother to make friends. I could hardly talk to anyone.

"Hey," Ninten waves, taking a seat next to Claus. He raises an eyebrow when he makes eye contact with me. "Oh? I didn't know you had a twin, Claus."

I give Claus a glare that says 'Thanks for telling your friends about me' while the ginger just shrugs in response. "Yeah, his name's Lucas."

"Clever naming on your parent's part. Nice to meet ya, Lucas." He gives me a smile that reminds me of Ness, except maybe a little less friendly.

"So where's Jeff and Poo?" Claus asks, not even allowing me to say hello to Ninten.

"Jeff? Probably with Tony," Ninten leans back, putting his feet up on the bleachers in front of him. "No idea where Poo is."

"...Poo?" I blurt out in confusion. Who the hell calls their friend 'Poo?'

"It's his real name." Claus says blankly as he scans the crowd with intentive blue eyes.

I doubt Claus is telling the truth, but when Ninten nods at me I just give in and take his word for it.

As we sit in silence for a moment, I join in my brother in searching through the crowds- though I wasn't exactly sure what I was looking for. I notice a kid that looks sort of like the Porky guy, but a little smaller. I assume he's probably the brother that Porky warned me about.

It isn't until I spot a familiar baseball cap a couple rows down that I realize what I was looking for.

"...Ness!" I call out at him reluctantly. The dark haired boy doesn't even turn around, and I look down in embarrassment.

"You know Ness?" Ninten inquires. "He's my cousin."

"We thought you might have been twins at first," Claus points out, his eyes still focused elsewhere.

"Thank god he isn't," Ninten says in a snarky voice. I can't help but giggle at his comment, watching Ness as he laughs with a dirty-looking albino boy with glasses. The guy certainly did make friends with everyone, didn't he?

It was then that I realize I probably wasn't any special to him. I was probably just someone he talked to because there was nobody else to, and he would probably only ever acknowledge my existence when we were in P.E. I usually wouldn't get upset about something like that, but it bothered me for some reason.

My train of thought is ruined when an elbow jabs into my side. "Well? Are you going to call him over or sit there and stare at him the whole time?"

I give Claus a glare before leaning forward and hesitantly shouting Ness' name one more time. He turns around this time, and his violet eyes light up when he spots me. I wave at him shyly, and he says something to the albino before climbing up the bleachers to approach us.

"Hey Lucas!" His enthusiasm was almost embarrassing sometimes. He spots Claus and raises his eyebrows curiously. "Woah, who's this? He looks just like you."

"Who do you think he is?" Ninten chimes in sarcastically. "This is his twin, Claus."

"Oh! You mean the one you told me about?" Ness teases back, giving Ninten a challenging stare.

Ninten squints his eyes in anger at Ness as Claus lifts an eyebrow at him curiously. "So you talk about me, huh?" I think about pointing out that he does the same thing, but I hold my tongue. I scoot over so Ness can sit down as Ninten and Claus tease one another for various things such as their hair and clothing choice.

"You'd think they're a married couple," Ness murmurs at me as Claus flips off Ninten before turning away.

"Yeah," I chuckle.

The sound of a microphone screeching catches everyone's attention, and we all turn to look down at the principal as he clears his throat to speak.

"Good morning, Saturn High!" His voice is the sort of fake enthusiasm that only teachers that didn't actually care could produce. "Welcome to the new school year! This year, we teachers at Saturn High hope to achieve only the best in what we do…" I roll my eyes and glance at the three guys sitting next to me. They all seemed to give about as much of a shit as I did about this speech- which was none. Claus began picking at his fingernails in unamusement, and Ninten seemed to be in another dimension. I had to nudge Ness a little bit, as he had begun dozing off in disinterest.

"God, I think at this point I'd rather be in first period," Claus hisses, glaring at the clock. I nod in agreement and let out a sigh. The principal was going on about how bullying wasn't tolerated here or whatever, but everyone knew that was bullshit. I let out a yawn and duck my head down. Who knew a welcoming assembly could be so boring? I listen to Claus' complaints before I gradually fell asleep.

…

"...Lucas!" Violent shaking of my shoulder stirs my slumber, and I blink open groggy eyes to be greeted with bleachers that were beginning to empty out. I slept through the entire assembly?

"Jesus Christ, dude," I wasn't surprised to wake up to the same thing I fell asleep to-Claus complaining. "You are so difficult to wake up."

As my senses gradually return to me, I realize I'm staring at Claus sideways. Glancing to my right, I'm greeted to a familiar blue and yellow striped shirt pressed against my cheek. I sit up instantly, my cheeks flushed as Ness stares at me with amusement in his eyes. When the hell did I fall asleep on Ness' shoulder?!

"You must've been really tired," Ness is talking so casually that I feel like I missed something. "I tried waking you up but you wouldn't budge. So I just let you stay there."

"Sorry," I grumble, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes in embarrassment.

Claus gets to his feet and stretches. It's then I realize that Ninten was gone. "Alright well, you two have fun with your little gay parade," he says as he starts walking away. "I'm gonna go to class."

I'm too disoriented to fight back, so I just ignore his comment. Ness stands up and re-adjusts his backpack on his shoulders. "Your brother is certainly a character." Is all he says, and I can tell he found this whole situation to be a little awkward. I feel like punching myself in the face. Why, of all places did I have to fall asleep on Ness' shoulder and ruin _everything? _He probably thinks I like him or something, and now he was probably gonna avoid me because who wants to hang out with the annoying gay kid-

"Ness! Are you coming?" I turn my head to see a well dressed boy with a bowl cut. "We're going to be a late for math."

"What a shame," Ness murmurs under his breath. "Holdon, Jeff!" He gives me a smile as he begins marching down the bleachers. "See ya in P.E, Lucas."

"Yeah," I gather up my things and go down the bleachers in the opposite direction, desperately wanting to forget this whole situation.

…

The rest of the day goes a little smoother, but my chest was clenching as I began my walk to the locker room for P.E. Would Ness be uncomfortable around me? I open the door and don't see Ness anywhere, so I take this as my chance to get changed before he comes in.

As I'm slipping my P.E shirt on, I see Ness come in and I turn to face the other way awkwardly. He doesn't acknowledge me as usual, so I automatically assume he hates me and never wants to speak to me again.

I finish changing and as I begin to leave, I feel a hand on my shoulder. I turn to look at Ness, whose voice was lowered to a whisper. "Lucas, bad news. A certain someone switched schedules and got the same P.E as us…"

"Who?"

And it's when I hear the locker room door slam open that I know exactly who Ness was talking about. I turn my head reluctantly and watch as Porky scuttles in, sweet talking the P.E. coach as he directed him to his locker.

"C'mon," Ness whispers, shoving past me and leaving for the door immediately. I don't even hesitate before following him out the door, avoiding being seen by Porky.

"You don't like Porky either?" I ask Ness as we go to sit down for attendance.

"Who _does _like him? The only reason people hang around him is because his parents got rich and they can get anyone suspended with a snap of their fingers. Bunch of asskissers is what they are."

Ness' negativity toward Porky surprises me, even if it _is _towards probably the worst guy in the school.

We sit down and I inwardly flinch as Porky marches into the gym. That guy had way too

much confidence, how could you go around thinking you were the king of everything when you couldn't even cut your hair evenly? I duck my head down and give Ness a look to urge him to do the same. The dark haired boy doesn't comply, instead his eyes follow Porky as he asks the P.E. teacher where he was supposed to sit. The relief on Ness' face tells me that he won't be sitting near us.

"Aw shit, poor Fuel. He got Porky as a partner."

I look up to see a brown haired boy waving hello at his partner, but flinching when Porky presumably says something at him. Boy was I sure glad I wasn't that guy.

But I wished I wasn't me when Porky makes direct eye contact with me.

"Dammit, he saw me." I look away immediately.

"He won't do anything," Ness grumbles, in almost an out of character tone. "Class is starting soon anyways." I relax a bit but can't help but wonder why Ness was glaring so darkly at the blonde. Did something happen between them?

The teacher asking for our attention makes me turn away from Ness, but I can't help but feel like Porky's eyes were meeting the back of my head the entire time.

…

"Wait up, Ness!" I pant after him, sweat running down the side of my face. Ness was the worst partner when it came to running laps around the football field; he seemed to think I was just as good a runner as him. And I didn't even do any sports! The darker haired boy slows a little, laughing at me as I struggled to keep up with him.

"C'mon, Lucas! It's only one more lap."

I do nothing but glare at him as I wipe the sweat from my brow. Four laps was too damn much. I am eventually side by side with Ness, but that was because he was too busy looking behind him and snorting at the lagging kids behind.

"Aw man, you should _see _Porky right now. Guy looks like he's gonna die."

"_I'm _gonna die," I wheeze, picking up the pace in eagerness as we turn the last corner before finishing. Ness just giggles at me as he goes ahead of me, crossing the finish and slowing down to a walk. I immediately crouch with my hands on my knees once I finish, heaving from exhaustion. Ness walks back over to me, panting himself.

"Nice job! You should play baseball with me sometime," He teases, ruffling the back of his own hair. "I think you'd be a natural."

"Not my thing," I stand up straight while my heart rate slowly gets back to normal. I'm just in time to see a majority of the class cross the finish, except for a few of the more sluggish ones. I take this few minutes of peace to sit in the grass and lean back on my arms. "I'd rather just walk than run."

Ness sits down next to me and lets out a deep breath. "Whatever man, your choice."

We sit in silence for a moment before we hear some sirens. Ness looks up curiously, but I shrug it off. The sirens stop at what seems to be a close distance, but Ness loses interest and looks away.

"Okay, everyone! Let's head back to the locker rooms and get changed for the end of the day." The teacher chirps as the last kid, who happens to be Porky, crosses the finish line. I get to my feet reluctantly and wipe the dirt off my butt to begin heading inside, Ness following suit.

…

Ness and I finish changing before Porky even makes it back into the locker room, thankfully. We're heading out into the hallway when we spot Claus hurrying towards us. He stops in front of us and takes a moment to catch his breath before he uncharacteristically looks at Ness with wide, worried eyes.

"Do you know if he's okay?"

"What?" Ness takes a step back in surprise, and I put my hands out to try and calm Claus down.

"What are you talking about, Claus? What's going on?"

"You mean you don't know?!"

"No, we don't. Now will you spit it out?" I urge, my own heart pumping at my brother's odd distraught.

"It's Ninten! He had an asthma attack!"


	4. Chapter 4

"What? An asthma attack?"

"Fuck," Ness immediately wiggles his backpack off his shoulders so he can grab his phone from it. "He hasn't had one of those in a long, long time." He rapidly goes through his phone while he speaks to Claus, "Do you know how it happened? Where he was taken? What time?"

"We were in science," Claus seems to have gained a little more self control, as his shoulders aren't so tense and he's not so loud. "doing some sort of experiment thing? And he had a bad reaction or something. He started coughing, and then choking, and then before we knew it the teacher was calling 911," I realize the sirens we heard were because of this situation, and I suddenly feel really bad for ignoring them when I first heard them. "I don't know what happened after that. Can he die from something like that?"

"He could," Ness pauses to begin dialing a number, which causes Claus to tense up all over again. "But I seriously doubt he will."

"Claus, chill out. I'm sure he's doing okay. Right, Ness?" I turn to Ness for reassurance, but the dark haired boy begins turning away to talk to someone on the phone. I rub the back of my head in embarrassment.

"...Fuck, that really scared me." Claus grumbles, crossing his arms and letting out a sigh.

"No kidding. I haven't seen you that upset in a long time."

We both pause, looking at our shoes.

"...Uh-huh, yeah, I will. Thanks, uh-huh, bye," Ness approaches us again while he ends his call. "Sorry, what were you saying Lucas?"

"Nothing, just trying to get Claus to calm down."

"Ah," Ness gives Claus a smile and Claus gives him an unamused look. He was probably embarrassed over how he'd freaked out. "He'll be fine, I'm sure."

"Thanks, I got that." Claus clenches his backpack straps awkwardly. "...C'mon, Lucas. We're gonna miss the bus and there's no way I'm making Dad pick us up." He pushes past Ness and begins heading to the door.

Ness gives me a confused look and I shrug. "Don't mind him. He's just upset because he damaged his own tiny ego." I couldn't help but wonder why he freaked out so bad in the first place, though. Did he consider Ninten a really good friend already? Normally Claus would just say something along the lines of 'that sucks,' and move on. Whatever. Maybe the guy actually developed a sense of caring over the years. I wave at a confused Ness as I run to catch up to my brother. "See ya on Monday!"

"...See ya."

….

"That Ness guy is weird," Claus says through a mouthful of omelette. We're both sitting at the dinner table, homework and textbooks sprawled across it. "He's like...too nice. I feel like he does it all for show."

"Or maybe you're just so used to being a jackass that you don't know what being a nice guy is like."

"Fuck off, as if you know how to be a part of society at all."

I flip him off and take a bite of my omelette. Not as good as Mom always made them, but I tried.

"But seriously, what's with him? He was all calm when Ninten was being transported to the fucking _hospital!_ Wasn't he at least a little bit concerned?" Claus is eating more furiously now, and I give him an unamused glare.

"Of course he was, he's just probably dealt with this before and he didn't want to create a scene. What's your deal with Ninten anyway? I don't even think you'd be that scared if something like that happened to me."

"What the hell, of _course_ I would be scared if that happened to you. I'd be more scared, actually." He takes a sip of water before continuing. "I just didn't expect someone like him to suddenly be so weak. Just a second before he was calling me shitty insults and goofing off."

"I guess so. It's still unlike you."

"Whatever," Claus sets his fork down and pushes his chair back to stand up. He collects his plate and sets it in the sink. "At least I'm not falling asleep on people's shoulders."

"It was an accident!" I hiss defensively, but Claus ignores me and heads into his bedroom. I sigh and look at the untouched plate across from mine. Dad must have been working overtime again. The house always felt so alone. I suddenly feel too sick to eat, so I get to my feet to grab some tupperware to put my leftover food and Dad's plate's food in. I place it in the fridge and go to sit on the couch, staring at the dusty coffee table.

A wet nose nudges my hand and I smile down at my dog, patting his head to acknowledge him. "Hi Boney." He whines and nudges me again, thumping his tail against the floor. "Nah...I don't feel like going for a walk today. Tomorrow, okay?" He jumps up on the couch, big paws stepping all over me as he tried to get situated. "Hey! Boney, oof-" He collapses on top of me and wags his tail happily. "You're ridiculous." I pet his head, laughing softly.

…

I must've fallen asleep, because I woke up in the middle of the night to my Dad coming home. I lift my head drowsily as I watch him kick his shoes off at the doorway, and flinch as I hear him opening and slamming cupboards. Must've been another hard day. I push the snoozing Boney off of me to get to my feet, stretching and making my way to the kitchen to greet him.

"I made omelettes, if you want some." I say with a yawn.

"What are you doing up at this hour?" Is all he says, but he opens the fridge to find said food anyway.

"I was on the couch."

"You should get to bed. And make sure your brother is too."

"M'kay," I say, happily willing to go back to bed. My back and stomach ached from the uncomfortable couch and dog that I slept with, and my bed was calling my name. "Night Dad." I say, beckoning Boney to follow me as I head to my room.

"Night."

…

Claus had been a nervous wreck through the entire weekend, and when Ninten wasn't at school on Monday that didn't help the situation any better.

"Where the hell is he? Did he get super sick?" Claus is furiously typing something on his phone as we sit in the cafeteria to wait for first period.

"He could be running late," I point out. "Besides, I think if it was really that bad Ness would have told us by now."

"Oh yeah, because relying on that fuckwad will sure get us places."

"Claus!" I hit the back of his head gently, and he flinches in surprise, taking his eyes off his phone to glare at me. "Leave Ness alone, he didn't do anything." I don't know why I was so defensive over Claus insulting him, I was used to him insulting people. I guess I just didn't feel like Ness deserved to be insulted...or something.

"Yeah yeah, defend your boyfriend all you want. I still don't trust him."

"...Boyfriend?!" I lean back and feel my face get really, really hot. "He's not my boyfriend! I don't like him like that."

"Ugh, don't turn this into some shitty gay fanfiction." He turns back to his phone, uninterested. "It's extremely obvious he has the hots for you, though."

I try not to give the idea much thought, and quickly turn the conversation back to being about my brother instead of me. "You're the one pissing yourself over Ninten getting sick." my voice cracks while I talk, which does not help my defense at all.

"There's a difference between pissing myself and just being genuinely fucking concerned about a friend who had to be rushed to the hospital in the middle of class." Claus' tone is extremely defensive and irritated, even for him. I decide to drop the subject before I actually make him mad at me.

We sit in silence for a little while before we hear someone approach us.

"Morning guys." I look up to see an exhausted looking Ness- uncombed hair, baggy eyes and all.

"Hey," I say, and Claus keeps quiet. "What's got you so tired?"

"Procrastination," Ness murmurs, taking a seat while rubbing at his eyes. "Stayed up til 2 am trying to finish this damn essay. What's up with you guys?"

"How's Ninten?" Claus interjects, completely uninterested in what Ness had to say at all.

"Oh right. He's fine, his mom's gonna have him stay home for the next couple days to make sure he's okay." Ness shimmies his backpack off his shoulders and grabs a small piece of paper from it. He holds it out to Claus. "He told me to give this to you. It's his number."

Claus snatches it immediately and murmurs a thank you while he assumingly puts it into his contacts.

"What was your essay about?" I decide to stir up conversation to pass the time.

Ness shrugs. "I don't know, really. Some kind of stupid compare and contrast thing for World History."

"Yeah, those are never fun." I don't know why I lied- I loved writing papers, I guess I just didn't want to sound like a loser or something. Ness gives me a smile and opens his mouth to say something before he is interrupted by the bell ringing.

"Well time to go I guess. See you guys later." Ness grabs his backpack and gets to his feet, shortly followed by Claus and I. We all part our ways to head to class as thoughts swarm in my head. Was Claus just messing with me or did he really think Ness had feelings for me? Part of me really hopes he's joking, because I've never really been the type to enjoy getting romantically involved with people. I just wasn't good at talking. But a small, small part of me hoped he was right...and it sort of scared me that I thought so.


End file.
